Upcoming Events

thoughts on “permaculture”

Nice system! I have a pawpaw/ blueberry berm that is watered by a greywater/rainwater system I designed that has been a lifesaver during this dry summer. Can’t wait for the pawpaws to start coming in! I decided not to plumb my greywater in but instead opted to hand shlep the water (just beyond the kitchen door). The benefits of that were to save money on plumbing (house was built in the 50’s), avoid legal issues, and control the amount of water based on current weather conditions (if its raining a lot- I don’t add greywater). The major drawback is that not all my greywater gets reused.

I was referrinng to this one: Forest Garden Design Intensive Edible Ecosystems Emerging: Food Forestry for the 21st Century – A 9-Day Intensive Forest Garden Design Training – With Dave Jacke, author of Edible Forest Gardens and Friends. I’d like to look into what it would take to host/bring this to the Inland NW. Where do we go from here?

Estar,
We (Spiral Ridge) only host courses here, where we live. You need to contact Dave Jacke personally to see if you can bring the course to your area. His site is http://www.edibleforestgardens.com
Blessings,
Jennifer

Megan, thank you for your interest in or upcoming courses. As of now we have to courses for the fall. The Edible Forest Garden Design intensive and the Backyard Permaclture Series. Take a look at our Events page on our website for further info. I highly recommend the Edible Forest Garden Design intensive. Thank you.
Cliff

This looks wonderful! It is exciting to see the design morph into reality. It was a great experience to be part of the design process in the Forest Garden Design Intensive class, so I have a personal interest in how the garden develops. These articles and pictures are always inspiring.

In twelve weeks they are said to get up to 4 pounds. We are free ranging them but now they are in a small tractor being fed very well with azomite, seaweed, grain, redmonds salt, and oyster shells. Another week and they go into the big tractor in the field.

Hi,
Anne Elizabeth Dillon suggested I look into this class. It sounds WONDERFUL! I know that I could learn alot, unfortunately, I cannot afford the fee….I have to take advantage of the free UT extension classes at Ellington Ag 🙂 I love what you are doing/teaching!

I am currently in a PDC course and have been given the task to design a permaculture nursery for my project. Are there any suggestions or ideas that you could share? This post is nearly two years old and mentions a blog where you would discuss the progression of your nursery: could you provide a link to this blog?

Love the podcast. Great to see it back up and cotiniunng! For me, being a part of the population that tries to get out of the 9-5 corporate and get into permaculture its inspiring whenever you interview one of these people living their permaculture dreams. I wholeheartedly agree with cliff, while I live in a small studio apartment I have persuaded my parents to allow me to start working on our old backyard in the suburbs a few times a year. While I have not taken any classes yet, and have read many books, in the end I don’t think much can replace just getting your hands dirty. Great work frank and thank you for the podcast! Have you heard of Derrick Jensen? I think his work concerning the relationship between ecology and civilization would be a great perspective to bring onto the show.

good morning, my name is Christine and have worked in gardens in Nashville for three years, attained a master gardener certificate during that time, changed jobs and now work in “landscaping” which I hate but the pay is so much better. My question is if you would be having any permaculture classes, workshops like on weekends, ones that would be more affordable. Also, what would be the best way to learn more about permaculture?
Currently, I have three raised beds, elderberries, native plums, figs, blueberries, blackberries, this year I have an herb garden, with some comfrey for the compost and my rabbit. I have four hens that keep everything lush, two compost piles, Ive used little cover crops and also have a small worm farm, which I am debating to let them free range………my goals currently are to increase my soil health as best can, I am struggling with watering issues. I have tried chapman bucket system which really hasn’t worked that well, dont really know what Im doing wrong and have no one to bounce questions off of. right now I have soaker hose and that even doesnt seem to work too well. I have one rain barrel, I want more tough. I have my strawberries irrigated with the rain barrel, however, that is now dry. My yard is filled with some grass, evening primrose, roses (not for long with the rose rosette disease), three comfrey plants, the beds, fruits various wild flowers and herbs. I am trying but want to learn so much more but don’t know where to go and what is cost effective to me and that I have time to do, I also have three boys to take care of.
Any guidance I would seriously appreciate.

It is great to hear from you. We have had a lot of interest in having another weekend permaculture course. We are looking to have another in the early spring of 2013. Please email us and we can add you to our seasonal newsletter.
Your garden sounds great. Please read Gaia’s Garden. This is a great start.
Cliff

Congratulations – love to see the keyline plow in action. I can’t wait for a time when it is a rare day when you run across someone who does not know the benefits of regenerative agriculture and the keyline plow. All the best, Genesis Permaculture

For anyone thinking about going to a course at Spiral Ridge, DO IT! I just took my PDC there and it was by far the experience and education of a lifetime. Cliff, Jenn, and the rest of the crew are the salt of the earth and true practitioners of all angles of this craft. Trust me…. DO IT… you will not regret it… and you will probably see me there for the earth works!

Thank you for posting the results of your experiment. My question is this, did the goats and hogs favor the bamboo over other options, or did they eat it in the absence of other foods? Either way this is good news I was just curious.

Ryan. Great to hear from you. Great question. We had already fed the hogs that day and they have several bales of hay to munch on throughout the day. So they had already been fed for the day. The bamboo was an afternoon snack

Interesting. I’ve been kicking this around for a while. We divert the water from our laundry into our yard to avoid filling up our septic tank (we do a lot of laundry with two boys), but right now all it is is a pool hose running out our garage and into the yard. In the winter, it often freezes up and is a pain to clear, so I’m seriously considering doing something like this when it thaws. Why is the trench filled with wood chips & sawdust instead of gravel? It seems like the degradable material would need to be replaced periodically, and would get gunked up faster than gravel.

What kind of error message are you receiving? I want to make sure this is not a problem for everyone. In the meantime, I can send you a paypal invoice for the deposit to your email. Are you registering for one person?

Hi,
We put the coupon code “NEWS for $100 off” and it did not accept it. Please get back with us about this and we will sent out the $600 deposit. We are so excited to take course. Thank you!
Frank and Kyra

Sign up for tips on permaculture design, regenerative farming and homesteading how-to, plus access to special course discounts.

2019 Courses in Tennessee

No events

Testimonials

I loved this course and enjoyed spending time with so many people who’s experience and interests overlap in the arena of permaculture. I learned a lot from each of the instructors and from other folks in the class.

PDC Student

The Regenerative Earthworks course was epic! Thanks to the generosity of Cliff Davis and everyone else at Spiral Ridge, I feel very good about soil, geology, and the techniques used to generate food and encourage biodiversity.

Chris Radha

I love these people. This course was very tasty in many ways. The knowledge share of bioregions, community regeneration and plant/animal ecologies was priceless. I have tools and pathways to not only feed my family and friends, I can grow blueberries!

This course is not just about Permaculture – it’s about life – life lessons. I will use it everywhere.

Frank, course participant

A wealth of information was given in ways that were interactive and easily absorbed. Feedback was welcomed and patterns were stressed over details. This empowers us when we leave to find our own permaculture niches in our respective communities.

Kristen LarkinSinger/Songwriter, Permaculture Educator

I wanted to learn about Permaculture to integrate ecological design into my career as a potential landscape architect. This PDC course exceeded my expectations.

The teachers did an excellent job covering their subjects. Cliff is an excellent teacher and wonderful mentor. I really learned so much. I found the teaching styles of each (instructor) to be very effective, incorporating “real world” practice into lecture allowed us hands-on integration of taught material.

Minda BrackmanOccupational Therapist & Homesteader

After meeting Cliff you realize that some people write books then retire and some people live their lives. I highly recommend taking the time to enjoy his knowledge and company. Jen is super good in her format of information teaching. Cliff’s passion is easily understood in a learning format. And there is never “ego” involved on this farm and it’s courses. It really was an amazing two weeks and I love your family.